About us

The IDEA League, founded in 1999, is a network of four leading universities of technology and science. Our joint activities in education, research and quality assurance, as well as our joint participation in EU programmes and initiatives make us a model of European cooperation. Together, we create added value by pooling resources for collaborative and complementary programmes for our students, researchers and staff.

While the significance of healthy soils for all life on earth, including human life, is becoming more apparent, we remain minimally committed to their conservation. It is time to use our advances in soil knowledge to manage our soils more sustainably.

Scientists from ETH Zurich have developed a thermometer that is at least 100 times more sensitive than previous temperature sensors. It consists of a bio-synthetic hybrid material of tobacco cells and nanotubes.

The future is uncertain. Forecasting (making scientifically based predictions) can reduce this uncertainty to some degree, but it can never eliminate it completely. Good risk management requires an adequate description of the uncertainties that remain. On Wednesday 1 April, TU Delft will host a symposium on the subject of new scientific techniques for describing uncertainties, and the methods that can be applied to deal with risk.

Cold snaps like the ones that hit the eastern United States in the past winters are not a consequence of climate change. Scientists at ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology have shown that global warming actually tends to reduce temperature variability.